MCLENANN COUNTY, Texas — Affordability is something we’re all struggling with, the cost of groceries, gas, bills, and housing. 25News reporter Dominique Leh spoke with some of our neighbors who are homeless on how they say the rising rent keeps them on the streets.
- With rent prices in Waco expected to increase at least 8% in 2025, local real estate agent Kayley George believes this can be attributed to an increase in insurance and interest rates.
- Donald Burse lives paycheck to paycheck and with rent prices increasing, he is not able to pay for an apartment.
- Gerald Bell said oftentimes he would rather go to jail to have a warm place to stay than sleeping on the streets.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“Just keep going, you give up, and you’re going to die,” Donald Burse said.
Just keep going. That’s what Donald Burse tells himself every day.
“I’m struggling paycheck to paycheck,” Burse said.
Burse has been homeless for more than 8 years, I caught up with him while he was grabbing a free haircut at Waco’s Project Homeless Connect, a resource fair by the Waco homeless coalition. Burse is on a fixed income and can’t afford an apartment.
“What little money they give you, by the time you pay your rent, if it’s 700 dollars, you might have $700 left from your check, that’s to pay your light, water, and gas,” Burse said.
With rent prices in Waco expected to increase at least 8% in 2025, Reporter Dominique Leh met with local real estate agent Kayley George to find out why. She tells me expenses for landlords have increased like insurance and maintaining property, and rental property interest rates have climbed between 7 to 11 percent.
“That makes it hard for rent to be affordable, And so on the flip side, when renters rates are high, it makes it harder for people to buy, So that brings in more renters in Waco,” said Kayley George.
And that creates a supply and demand issue, with more renters, but not enough rentals. Leaving prices sky-high.
“I’ve got three jobs, and no place to live,” Gerald Bell said.
A crisis is now a burden to people like Gerald Bell.
“I have come to the situation where I need to go get arrested to get out of the weather, and when a man thinks he’s better off in jail than in the world, something is wrong with the world,” said Bell.
And heartbreaking for several of our neighbors living on the streets.
“Everybody needs a little help sometimes,” Burse said.
Help the Homeless Coalition hopes to give. If you would like to learn ways on how you can make a difference you can reach out to the Homeless Coalition
